Leetonia gas station owner resentenced on drug counts

August 15, 2013

LISBON - The Youngstown man convicted of selling drugs from his Leetonia gas station was resentenced to eight years in prison, the same penalty he received two years ago before an appeals court ordered he be resentenced.

Amad Esmail, 54, was sentenced to eight years in prison by Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam after his original sentence was overturned on a technicality by the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals in May. The appeals court, while affirming Esmail's conviction, ruled he was not sentenced in complete accordance with Ohio law.

The court ordered Email be resentenced, and Washam complied by reimposing the same sentence he meted out in October 2011 after Esmail pleaded guilty to five counts of drug trafficking and three counts of drug possession.

Esmail owned the Leetonia Shell gas station for a short period during the late 2000s and it was not long before he fell under suspicion for selling drugs from the establishment, such as heroin and oxycondone.

The gas station was also the site of a 2012 shooting incident when a car pulled in and a man with a gun stood up through the sun roof and began firing. No one was injured, but Esmail was believed to the target.

In other court action, Jason E. Cope, 37, Silliman Street, New Waterford, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 25 after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property charges. Cope was accused of possessing a Ford Explorer stolen from Shane Ryhal, stripping the vehicle and then setting it on fire in a wooded area between New Waterford and Negley in 2012.

Preston L. Wright, 20, Forrest Street, Lisbon, was sentenced by Judge C. Ashley Pike to 51 days in the county jail for violating his probation on burglary and receiving stolen property charges from 2012. His probation will continue.